Railway car truck and bolster having snubbers



April 5, 1949. E. ENDSLEY 2,466,088

RAILWAY CAR TRUCK AND BOLSTER HAVING SNUBBERS Filed Jan. 8, 1947 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN VENTOR. 1.0015 5 ENDSL. E v

Patented Apr. 5, 1949 RAILWAY CAR TRUCK AND BOLSTER HAVING SNUBBERS Louis E. Endsley, Pittsburgh, Pa., assignor to The Frost Railway Supply (30., Detroit, Mich a corporation of Michigan Application January 8, 1947, Serial No. 720,759

3 Claims. 1

My invention relates to railway car trucks, and more particularly to that type wherein provision is made for some small longitudinal movement of the truck bolsters, in directions transversely of the truck frames, they being commonly known as swing-motion bolsters. Such bolsters also usually have some up-and-down movement, because they will be supported by springs on the truck frame. With bolsters of this type, difficulty is sometimes experienced in maintaining the proper angularity of squareness of the bolster with respect to the side frames of the truck.

One object of my invention is to provide an improved arrangement of springs for yieldably absorbing the endwise movements or swing of a bolster on its truck frame, the springs being positioned in approximately symmetrical relation to the longitudinal axis of the bolster and to the vertical center line of the truck frame, the springs also serving as snubbing elements for damping vertical movements of the bolster on the truck frame.

Another object of my invention is to provide an improved arrangement of snubbing devices for car truck bolsters, in conjunction with means for accurately maintaining the squareness or proper angular relation between the bolster and its truck frame, without adversely affecting the operation of the snubbing devices.

Some of the forms which my invention may take are shown in the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a sectional plan view showing a portion of a railway car truck; Fig. 2 is a sectional plan view of a portion of one of the bolster elements of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a view, partly in elevation and partly in section, of one of the car trucks and the bolsters of Fig. 1, taken on the line III-III of Fig. 4, on a reduced scale; Fig. 4 is an enlarged view taken on the line IV-IV of Fig. 3; Fig. 5 is an enlarged sectional plan view of a portion of the structure of Fig. 1; Fig. 6

shows a modification of certain of the snubbing elements of Figs. 1 to 5, and Fig. '7 shows certain of the friction producing elements of Fig. 4 in exploded relation.

In the structure shown in the drawings of this application, the general arrangement of car truck frame with its vertical guides and the bifurcated truck bolster used therewith is similar to that shown in my Patent 2,329,257, but in the present instance I have modified and improved upon the structure of the said patent, to show a bolster of the swing type, with inclusion therein of a snubbing device to frictionally resist vertical oscillations of the bolster relative to the side frames of the truck.

In the accompanying drawings, only so much of the car truck structure is shown as is necessary to an understanding of the invention. The

side frames 22 of the truck may be of one of the well-known forms and is provided with vertically-extending guide columns 23 that are straddled by the bifurcated portions or arms 24 of a bolster 25 which has the usual center plate 26 for supporting the body bolster of a railway car. Each of the bolster arms 24 has a horizontal slot 21 and a vertical slot 28 whose walls serve as retaining and guide devices for the various snubbing elements.

The bolster is here shown as supported on the truck frame by four corner springs 30 and a central spring 3|, it being understood, however, that various other arrangements of supporting springs may be employed. In order to provide a desired snubbing action during vertical movements of the bolster with respect to the truck side frame and the guide columns 23, I provide a pair of friction shoes 32 that are held in spring-pressed engagement with the opposed faces of the vertical guides 23 of the truck frame. These shoes have ribs or flanges 33 (Figs. 3 and 6) that loosely fit in the slots 21 of the bolster arms 24, they being slid into place in the slots from the extremities of the bolster arms, at preliminary stages in assembly of the parts, The shoes 32 have pockets formed therein as shown more clearly in Figs. 5 and 6 to receive snubber springs 34 and 35.

A spring cap 36 (Figs. 4 and 5) is provided for each pair of springs 34-35. Each of these caps has a V-shaped rib 31 formed thereon for engagement with wedging blocks 38 and 39 that are drawn toward one another by bolts M which extend through holes in the ends of these blocks. When the nuts on these bolts are tightened, the wedge blocks are drawn toward one another to compress the springs 34-35 to a desired degree which, in some instances, will give them a pressure of approximately 3000 to 3500 lbs. or more. The spring caps 36 are supported for sliding movement on the bolster arms during this adjustment, by extensions 36a. therein that project into the slots 21 while the wedge blocks 38 have their ends projecting into the vertical slots 28. The ends of the block 33 also extend into these slots 28. The blocks 38 and 39 are thus held against displacement longitudinally of the bolster, but can readily be vertically adjusted relative to one another to provide the desired degree of spring tension.

Where the truck springs 30-3I are designed to permit a normal vertical range of movement of approximately 1 and inches relative to the vertical guides 23, the wedge blocks 38-39 may suitably be so adjusted that the springs will exert a pressure of about 3500 inch lbs. If the friction surfaces of the shoes 32 each has a frictional area of approximately 25 square inches, at 3500 lbs. spring pressure, there will be only lbs.

.without affecting the angular per square inch pressure by the friction surfaces of the shoes, with consequent longer life of the rubbing surfaces than if. the-shoes had smaller frictional areas. When occasion arises, the friction shoes can be adjusted by their bolts 4| "to give the desired snubbing force, in compensating for wear on the friction surfaces or'for other reasons.

In assembling the snubbing elements between.

the bolster arms 24, before the tie bolt 43 and the retaining block 44 are placed in the end of the bolster, theextremities of the bolster arms 24 are extended only partly into'the truck frame, so that the innermost shoe 32 can he slid in from the end of the bolster, along the slots, 21 to approximately the position shown in Fig. 4. Thereupon, one pair of springs 34 and 35 will be placed on their seat in this shoe 32. The innermost spring cap 36 will then be slid along the slot 21, into position against the springs. Thereupon the outer blocks 36-32 with their interposed spring coils 34-35 will be slid into place. The bolster can then be slid longitudinally to permit placing of the retaining block 44 and the bolt 43. The wedge-blocks 3839 will'then be put into place with their extremities lying in the vertical slots 28, and the bolts 4| put therethrough and the nuts (tightened to draw the blocks together for the purpose of compressing the springs to a desired degree. The block 39 is widened at its lower end 45, to provide an extended bearing area for the spring 3|.

By the arrangement above described, it is not necessary to provide a spring plank for the truck side frames in order to obtain a swing motion relationship or squareness of the truck frame relative. to the bolster at the swing motion positions of the bolster,'and without afiecting the functioning of the snubbing springs and shoes. This is because the snubbing elements are centrally aligned with the longitudinal center line of the bolster and also centralized with respect to the vertical center lines of the guide columns 23, and because the bolster arms 24 have guided engagement with the column guides 23, at the frontand rearsurfaces of the guides, at widely spaced points in a direction longitudinally of the bolster.

Referring to Fig. 6, I show another form of wedging device for placing the snubbing springs under compression indicated in Fig. 15, the friction shoes 32 of Fig. 4 can be used, but other forms of spring caps and wedge blocks will be employed. In this arrangement, the spring caps are indicated by the numerals 48, each having a pair of bosses 49 that will fit into the slots 2'l of the bolster arms. A wedge block 50' has wedge surfaces engageable with the adjacent sides of the caps 48 andfits edge portions 52 are vertically slidable in the slots 28. I I

In placing the snubbing springs 3435 under compression by the device of Fig. 6, the block 50 is forced'upwardly between the caps 48 to compress the springs 3435. The angle, of friction is such that the block will .not slip out while the bolster is being placed on the load-carrying springs 303l, the spring 3| thereafter holding the block in place against displacement under vibration. For greater degrees of tension, shims will be interposed between the lower end of the block 50 and the spring 3|. v

and holding them there. As

the columns, seating elements columns that project therefrom and arranged'to force the shoes I claim as my invention: ,1. A railway truck comprising a pair of side frames, each havingvertically-extending guide columns that project therefrom at-its inner and outer sides and at approximately midway of its ends,- a bolster having bifurcated end portions extending across the front and rear sides of the said columns, friction shoes carried by the bolster and shiftable longitudinally thereof for engagement with opposed faces of the columns, a pair of springs between said bifurcated portions and arranged to force the shoes in opposite directions into frictional engagement with opposed faces of for the springs, carried between 'the bifurcated portions of the bolster, a blocl; disposed between the said seating elements for maintaining the springs under compression, the said block being held against movement axially of the bolster, and

' 2. A railway truck comprising. a pair of side frames, each having vertically-extending guide at its inner and outer sides and at approximately midway of its ends,-a bolster having bifurcated end portions extending across the front and rear sides of the said elements, friction shoes carried by the bolster and shiftable longitudinally thereof for engagement with opposed faces of the column elements, a pair of springs between said bifurcated portions in opposite directions for frictional engagement with opposed faces of the column elements, seating elements for the springs, carried between the bifurcated portions of the bolster, .a block disposed between the said seating elements for maintaining the springs under compression, the said block being held against movement axially of the bolster, and

springs for supporting the bolster on the side frames, the said block and the spring seating surfaces engaged thereby being of wedge form and the block being adjustable to vary the degree of spring pressure.

3. A railway car truck comprising a pair of truck side frames, each having a pair of vertical guide columns that are spaced apart in directions transversely of the frame, a bolster having bifurcated arms extending across the front and rear sides of the columns, springs for yieldably supporting the bolster on the truck frame, snubbing elements disposed between the said arms and between each pair of theguide columns and having frictional engagement with the adjacent surfaces of the columns, a block fixedly secured between the said arms and the said elements, and a compression spring between each element and the block, the bolster arms having close vertically slidable fit with the front and rear surfaces of the columns, whereby the bolster is maintained in approximately right angular relationshipto the side frames.

' LOUIS E. ENDSLEY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS springs for supporting the bolster on the side frames. 

